Overview

Women known as ""shriekers"" howled, screamed, convulsed and tore their clothes. Beleived by many to be possessed by demons, these central figures in the cultural drama of ""klikushestuo"" stirred various reactions among those who encountered them. While peasants and clergymen sheltered the shriekers, others analyzed, diagnozed and objectified them. The Russian Orthodox Church played an important role for, while moving toward a scientific explanation for the behaviour of the ""klikushi"", it was reluctant to abandon the ideas of possession and miraculous exorcism. ""Possessed"" examines the phenomenon of demon possession in rural Russia. Drawing from a wide range of sources - religious, psychiatric, ethnographic and literary - Worobec looks at ""klikushestuo"" over a broad span of time but focuses mainly on the 19th and early-20th centuries, when all of Russian society felt the pressure of modernization. Worobec's study is as much an account of perceptions of the ""klikushi"" as an analysis of the women themselves. Engaging broad issues in Russian history, women's history and popular religious culture, ""Possessed"" carries rich implications for understanding the ways in which a complex society treated women believed to be out of control.

Full Product Details

Author:   Christine D. Worobec
Publisher:   Cornell University Press
Imprint:   Northern Illinois University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 2.70cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.907kg
ISBN:  

9780875802732

ISBN 10:   0875802737
Pages:   303
Publication Date:   01 February 2001
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Undergraduate ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Out of stock  
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Table of Contents

Table of Contents Confronting Klikushestvo: An Introduction 1. State and Church Perceptions The Legal Case Orthodoxy's Triumph over the Devil Scientific Rationalism and the Miraculous Conclusion 2. Peasant Views Popular Orthodoxy Witchcraft 3. Literary and Ethnographic Portrayals Romantic Images Images of Serfdome An Ethnographic-Historical Account Feodor Dostoevsky Leo Tolstoy The Dark Side of Peasant Beliefs Conclusion 4. Psychiatric Diagnoses The Search for Klikushi Scientific Rationalism versus. Popular Practices Hysteria versus. Somnambulism Mass Psychology Conclusion 5. Sorting through Multiple Realities Appendix 1: Database of Klikushi/klikuny Appendix 2: Database of Witchcraft Cases Notes Bibliography Index

Reviews

Exceptionally well-researched and exhaustive. Association for Women in Slavic Studies Worobec is at her best as a storyteller.... Her scholarship is marked by a meticulous reading of sources and a sensitivity to and respect for the people she studies. Russian Review

<p> Exceptionally well-researched and exhaustive. <br> --Association for Women in Slavic Studies<p> Worobec is at her best as a storyteller.... Her scholarship is marked by a meticulous reading of sources and a sensitivity to and respect for the people she studies. -- Russian Review

Exceptionally well-researched and exhaustive. Association for Women in Slavic Studies Worobec is at her best as a storyteller.... Her scholarship is marked by a meticulous reading of sources and a sensitivity to and respect for the people she studies. Russian Review

<p> Exceptionally well-researched and exhaustive. <br>--Association for Women in Slavic Studies<p> Worobec is at her best as a storyteller.... Her scholarship is marked by a meticulous reading of sources and a sensitivity to and respect for the people she studies. -- Russian Review

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